Hydrocarbons are produced from subterranean regions and reservoirs that also contain water and other related fluids. In many wells, the volume of water and other well fluids can substantially exceed the relative volume of hydrocarbons, which are being produced from the wells, such that the hydrocarbon production rates can be reduced or limited by the volume of water and other fluids handled by the well fluids production systems. Traditionally, the separation of hydrocarbons from water and other well fluids has occurred at the surface, for hydrocarbon production. In addition to surface separation systems, downhole well fluids production systems have been used which include the use of electric powered centrifugal separators or permeable filtering systems and/or hydraulic or mechanical separators for separating the hydrocarbons, being produced, from other fluids downhole. However, these existing downhole systems require power, moving components, and/or periodic replacement of devices or parts, such that these existing systems will not work effectively during the entire life of the well. In addition, these traditional systems do not provide for the separation and selective control of simultaneous flow streams, including the selectively-controlled urging of substantially hydrocarbon or substantially water injection and/or production streams, within a single main wellbore.
Embodiments of the present invention can selectively control simultaneous fluid streams of varying velocities by using flow controlling members. The flow controlling members can be selectively placed between conduits of a plurality of concentric conduit string members or, alternatively, placed through the innermost passageway members and engaged to one or more receptacle members of a subterranean disposed manifold string, using at least one manifold crossover member with a radial passageway fluidly communicating between concentric passageway members and one or more downward extending conduits. The manifold string can be usable for fluid injection into, and/or fluid extraction from, one or more wells, vertically and/or laterally disposed within the subterranean strata regions, through a single main bore and wellhead, thus minimizing space requirements, rig movements and/or surface facilities.
Embodiments of the present invention can use flow controlling members to selectively extract and/or inject substantially hydrocarbon or substantially water fluid mixtures, comprising gases, liquids, and/or solids, for example cuttings disposal or salt-saturated brine removal, through the crossover member of a manifold string, located between two or more subterranean features at the lower end of one or more wells, which can be comprised within a single main wellbore. The fluid mixtures can be selectively controlled produced and injected from a single main wellbore, for example, injected water producing steam generated in a deep geothermal subterranean region, or injected into shallow tar sands or a cold arctic reservoir for heating and producing viscous hydrocarbons. The fluid mixtures can be selectively injected into, or extracted from a single main wellbore to dispose of waste fluid or oily water without surface processing, or to pressure drive a hydrocarbon reservoir with a water flood or water sweep directly from a deeper higher pressure subterranean water source. Alternatively, the fluid mixtures can be selectively injected into, or extracted from, a single main wellbore to feed a geothermal heat source from another subterranean well, under a junction of wells while producing steam, or recycling water condensation during steam production. In addition, the fluid mixtures can be selectively injected into, or extracted from, a single main wellbore to selectively extract gravity-segregated, underground stored fluids at two different salt cavern depths, to dissolve salt with water at the lower end of a cavern while using the upper end for storage operations, or to separate hydrocarbon flow streams produced from a sandstone reservoir while solution mining a cavern with produced water in an overburden salt deposit.
Embodiments of the present invention can further include systems, apparatus and methods usable to operate a large variety of well types for urging substantially hydrocarbon and/or substantially water injection or production. Examples of products produced or injected include subterranean liquid hydrocarbons, gaseous hydrocarbons, subterranean steam, subterranean salt saturated fluid, bored subterranean strata debris fluid mixtures, and fluids usable in well construction or stimulation, such as proppant fracs from, or to, vertically or laterally separated conduit entry or exit orifices. The conduits, having entry or exit orifices for use in urging injection and/or production operations, can extend to subterranean regions from a single main bore, positioned below a single wellhead. The systems and methods for urging substantially hydrocarbon and/or substantially water injection or production operations can be used during, for example, well or underground storage cavern construction, and/or during production from a reservoir, underground cavern, and/or solution-mined salt dissolution region. The application across a diverse set of well types and uses provides economics of scale for standardizing member systems, methods and apparatus, which can be configurable in various arrangements, e.g., for widespread off-the-shelf deployment.
In a further aspect, embodiments the present invention can provide member systems, methods and apparatus for controlling fluid mixtures containing solids. Examples of such fluid mixtures can include proppants for fracturing shale gas, low permeability reservoirs, or gravel packs located in unconsolidated reservoirs. Conventional, off-the-shelf solids placement technologies use a two flow streams approach, that does not effectively address the impermeable geologic properties of shale using apparatuses designed for sandstone reservoirs or the ability to remove solids from the wellbore after screen out occurs. However, embodiments of the present invention enable placement and removal of excess solids to vertically and/or laterally separated subterranean regions, from one or more wells from a single main bore, for increasing the efficiency of less productive, substantially impermeable, shale reservoirs or tight sandstone or unconsolidated reservoirs, through improved placement and retrieval of fluid mixtures containing solids.
Embodiments of the present invention can further use fluid rotatable apparatuses placeable with a cable, such as boring, cutting and pumping devices. These devices are usable to establish flow control within a well, during construction, intervention, operation and/or abandonment of various well types, using cable engagable downhole assemblies that can be selectively placeable, suspendable and/or retrievable within and from manifold string members, via a cable using a wireline rig.
Embodiments of the present invention can provide a fluid-pump, flow controlling member, that can be usable within hydrocarbon, water and/or underground storage wells with an electric or fluid motor. The motor can be driven from the injection of a water stream or the expansion of a higher velocity fluid stream, such as an expanding gas stream or fluid from a deeper, higher pressure formation that can be usable to pump a lower velocity fluid stream, further urging it from or into the well.
Flow controlling members can selectively control one or more manifold crossover members to provide fluid stream velocity changes, which can be usable to selectively emulate a velocity string, jet pump and/or a venturi arrangement during production, injection and/or downhole processing.
Embodiments of the present invention can also provide a means of selectively separating a fluid mixture flow stream into a plurality of substantially gaseous, liquid and/or water flow streams of varying velocities and the associated extraction or injection stream. The separation of the flow streams can be selectively reconfigurable with a cable using a wireline rig or other rig and can be usable during or over the life of the one or more substantially hydrocarbon and/or substantially water wells, operating through a single main bore and wellhead. Manifold string members, can be used to control flow through member passageways and spaces located between conduit string members across one or more subterranean regions, by using, for example, the spaces within the passageways through subterranean strata and/or cavern walls for subterranean processing of production and/or injection before or after passing through the wellhead, to reduce surface processing facility needs.
Embodiments of the present invention are also usable during subterranean separation of a first substantially gaseous fluid stream and second substantially liquid fluid stream from a producing fluid stream, to selectively control the gas lifting of the second fluid stream. This subterranean separation and selective control can be accomplished by controlling the injection of at least a portion of the first flow stream into the second flow stream, before either stream exits the wellhead or valve tree at the upper end of the single main bore, to selectively optimize the extraction process and the resulting produced flow stream.
Embodiments of the present invention can further provide a means to thermally affect flow streams by selectively controlling the flow stream of the adjacent passageway member or the laterally separated well, that can extend downward from a junction of wells to, for example, prevent heat exchange between flowing fluid streams during solution mining, or to thermally exchange heat to thick tar sand or cold artic production by using an adjacent passageway member through the single main bore and/or junction of wells for the injection of steam to a vertically and/or laterally separated point beneath the junction of wells. In addition, selective control of the flow streams enables thermal insulation of a flow stream by, for example, using waste water produced from hot fluids, such as hydrocarbon separation or steam condensation during electrical generation processes, which can be injected through a passageway of a single main bore axially downward to insulate product being extracted axially upward from the cooling effects of the strata and/or ocean. Another example includes using cooler wastewater injection through a concentric passageway member to insulate equipment from a high temperature production caused from a deep hydrocarbon or geothermal source. Other examples include the thermal insulation of flow controlling members, such as the final cemented casing shoe of a gas storage salt cavern during simultaneous underground gas storage extraction and solution mining operations.
An economic need exists for systems, methods and apparatus usable to minimize the quantity of equipment and space necessary to construct and operate a diverse variety of wells located in environmentally sensitive and remote locations, including for example in urban, jungle, arctic or offshore regions.
A need exists for the economies of scale necessary to develop compatible systems, methods and apparatus usable across a variety of well types including, for example, hydrocarbon, geothermal, water production, underground waste disposal, underground storage and solution mined wells, wherein broad application across the variety of wells provides an economically-efficient standardization and off-the-shelf supply.
The scale and economic needs of recently discovered impermeable shale gas hydrocarbon reserves, worldwide, and/or reserves in marginal unconsolidated reservoirs creates the need for systems and methods for improving control of fluids carrying solids for unconsolidated strata screening or fracture initiation and propagation in reservoirs where solids production and/or fracture length is limited, to increase the relative permeability of, for example, shale gas reservoirs or to, for example, improve gravel packing of unconsolidated reservoirs, beyond what is currently possible and/or economically obtainable with the use of conventional technology, which is generally designed for permeable or prolific reservoirs.
A need exists for systems and methods for reducing waste by-products of strip mining tar sands and reducing the surface facilities impact on permafrost regions above arctic reservoirs, wherein heat and/or pressure from geothermal and/or deeper subterranean source wells may be directed through a junction of the wells' member passageways to heat and extract viscous hydrocarbons without intermediate surface handling of the heat source fluids.
A need exists for improved systems, apparatus and methods usable to better carry solids within a completion string for placement of fracture proppant or gravel packs in shale gas or unconsolidated reservoirs, respectively, with an associated need for flowing gases, liquids and/or solids for more effective production during removal of solid screen outs or sand production.
A need exists for systems and methods for operating one or more wells using less surface equipment and less labour intensive wireline or cable operations over a subterranean well's useful life through abandonment, wherein selectively controlling fluid streams from a plurality of wells extending downward from a single main bore improves the overall economics of production, injection and/or ultimately abandonment, for a wide variety of well types to improve the economics of marginal subterranean developments, such as shale gas, tar sands, stranded offshore reserves, offshore underground storage facilities, and/or various other developments requiring technological improvements for development.
Needs exist for systems and methods usable for producing from a single main bore while simultaneously injecting water through the single main bore to a plurality of wells to, for example: dispose of waste fluids and/or to perform water floods for maintaining pressure, reducing subsidence or sweeping a reservoir. In addition, a need exists for systems and methods usable for producing from a single main bore while simultaneously injecting water through a single main bore to a plurality of wells to supply feed water to underground steam generation reservoirs, to provide heat to viscous hydrocarbon reservoirs, and/or to store and extract storage from a cavern while using the stored product as a leaching cushion during solution mining of the same cavern.
A need also exists for systems and methods usable for using the energy, from for example, water injection, subterranean fluid expansion, electrical and/or subterranean pressure sources, to drive pumps placed between conduits or selectively placed through conduit passageways into receptacles, wherein such subterranean submersible pumps are usable with a manifold string for simultaneous injection and/or production operations. These injection and/or production operations can be usable to aid, for example: placing water feed stock using steam expansion or recycling steam condensation in a geothermal well; using waste fluid injection to drive submersible pumps lifting produced fluids; using expanding gas from production or a subterranean separation process to drive a turbine used to pump liquids from a well; expanding gas from underground storage caverns to drive a turbine pumping water into a pressurized storage space for maintaining cavern pressure and/or solution mining (with subsequent injection of compressed gas reversing the pump to aid the pumping of brine from an underground storage space); or using a deep water source to drive a turbine or positive displacement motor and/or pump to produce a depleted hydrocarbon reservoir, after which the deeper high pressure is naturally injected into a weaker shallow formation for disposal.
A further needs exists for reconfigurable subterranean velocity strings, and subterranean separation and/or gas lift systems, methods and apparatus usable to selectively control subterranean processing prior to passing through a wellhead or exiting a valve tree. These systems and methods can provide selective control by using flow controlling members of a manifold string to, for example, operate subsea or marginal developments, where surface processing may be impractical and where members of a manifold string are reconfigurable over the life of a well, without the need to remove the production string thus potentially extending the economic life of one or more wells under a single main bore.
Finally, a need also exists for systems and methods usable for thermally affecting wells by, for example: isolating flow streams by means of separating well bores and flow streams below a junction of wells. The thermal effects of these systems and methods can include retaining the heat of injected fluids during salt dissolution for improving salt saturation levels of brine removed, reducing condensation during steam production with the use of an insulating warm wastewater injection stream as geothermal reservoir feed stock to reduce the water recycle time, or insulating hydrocarbon production streams by using the heat of injected waste water to increase heat retention and flow assurance in cold ocean and arctic environments.
Various embodiments of the present invention address these needs.